ALL-ROUNDERS Kshitij Dahiya, Suraj Rai and Harsh Dubey were duly rewarded for their consistent performance as the trio was included in Vidarbha squad for upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy on Thursday. Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal, who announced his retirement from the Twenty20 format before Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy, was back in the squad as leader. Seamer Rajneesh Gurbani, who was overlooked for the T20 event early in the year, has once again earned faith of the selectors and was included in the 22-member squad declared by Senior Selection Committee of Vidarbha Cricket Association.

 

Opener R Sanjay was also back in the scheme of things as there is always a scope for batsmen who might take some time in the 50-over format. Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate, who is team’s first choice bowler for days format and missed out on Twenty20 event, has been added to the side. Among the notable omissions is big-hitter Apoorv Wankhade, who could not impress those who mattered in the recently concluded Guzder League A Division One Day Cricket Tournament organised by VCA.

 

Overall, the team looks a balanced one with right mix of youth and experience. Stumper Akshay Wadkar has been promoted as Vice-Captain giving Ganesh Satish more space to focus just on batting. Inputs from the senior pro will always be more than welcome for Faiz-Wadkar pair. While Dahiya is a batting all-rounder, both left-arm seamer Rai and left-arm spinner Dubey are more of bowling all-rounders. all of them did exceedingly well in tune-up Guzder tourney with both bat and ball. Pacers Lalit Yadav, Suniket Bingewar and Saurabh Dube and opening batsman Aniruddha Chaudhary, who were part of the squad for Mushtaq Ali meet, could not find a place this time.

 

Vidarbha veteran Shrikant Wagh, who expressed his displeasure on social media for being dropped from the T20 tournament, was also not considered. The Vijay Hazare Trophy will be played from February 20 at Indore. The team will leave for Indore on February 13 after undergoing RT-PCR COVID tests. Team: Faiz Fazal (Captain), R Sanjay, Siddhesh Wath, Jitesh Sharma, Ganesh Satish, Yash Rathod, Kshitij Dahiya, Akshay Wadkar (Vice-Captain), Darshan Nalkande, Yash Thakur, Aditya Thakare, Suraj Rai, Akshay Wakhare, Harsh Dubey, Mohit Raut, Aditya Sarvate, Nachiket Bhute, Rushabh Rathod, Mandar Mahalle, Rajneesh Gurbani, Akshay Karnewar, Atharva Taide.